A team from Massachusetts General Hospital, headed by Dr Paola Divieti-Pajevic, incorporated Alvetex Scaffold in their experiments 150 miles above the surface of the Earth. Astronauts activated the experiment on the ISS, in which three bioreactors grew bone cells in Alvetex Scaffold.

Chosen for the mission ahead of 15 competing cell growth systems, Alvetex Scaffold is “world-class bioscience” from Professor Stefan Przyborski, Chief Scientific Officer of Reinnervate Ltd. and his colleagues at Durham University, who used BBSRC funding to develop the concept.

The study will tell us about the normal cellular ageing process and the development of bone-thinning diseases like osteoporosis and whether microgravity can be replicated on Earth.

About Reinnervate Ltd

Reinnervate, a ReproCELL group company, is an innovative life sciences company dedicated to making routine 3D cell culture a reality for researchers in academia and in the pharmaceutical and related industries.

Reinnervate was founded in 2002 based on the pioneering research of Professor Stefan Przyborski and his lab at Durham University funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) in the UK.

About ReproCELL

ReproCELL Incorporated was established as a venture company originating from the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University and has been the pioneer the pioneer in the iPS cell business, succeeding in the commercialization of the world’s first human iPS human cell products in 2009 and with the world’s most advanced research and technology. In addition, through the recent acquisitions of Reinnervate (UK), BioServe (US), Semgent (US) and Biopta (UK), the ReproCELL Group is proceeding towards the establishment of a global distribution network, technology synergy and new product introductions.

About Alvetex® Scaffold

Alvetex Scaffold is a unique polystyrene material that provides a robust and inert scaffold for cells to grow and form complex 3D structures in vitro, mimicking the normal growth and formation of tissues in the body. Reinnervate has extensively tested and validated Alvetex Scaffold with a large number of cell types, including liver, skin, osteocytes, cancer and stem cells, all of which have important applications in basic research into cell development, disease modelling and drug safety screening.

Alvetex Scaffold has been launched globally in several formats: a 12-well, 24-well, 96 well and 384 well plates, 6-well and 12-well cell culture inserts. These formats enable scientists to construct different 3D cell culture models and assays. These include screening of novel drugs/drug combinations on 3D culture and co-culture models, co-culture to study cell-cell or cell-matrix interactions, the growth of cells at the air-liquid interface and the long-term culture of cells. Visit reinnervate.com for a full list of applications.